Articles in Japanese Movie Reviews
Nobody Knows (2004) Movie Review
Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda has built somewhat of a cult reputation for off centre, documentary-like dramas, such as his Heaven-set “After Life” and the Dogme style “Distance”, which starred Tadanobu Asano. Although his films have received a considerable amount of critical praise and award nominations, they are neither particularly well known nor indeed accessible, generally [...]
December 18th, 2004 | James Mudge | 3 Comments | Read MoreGun Crazy: Vol. 1 - A Woman From Nowhere (2002) Movie Review
The world loves a good western. As a matter of fact, Europeans loved them so much that, when distribution problems of the early 1960s made these movies increasingly difficult to import, they started making their own. While starring actors of various nations, most of these films were financed by Italian companies and filmed in Italy, [...]
December 5th, 2004 | Edward Lee | 0 Comments | Read MoreAzumi (2003) Movie Review
Ryuhei Kitamura’s “Azumi” is surprisingly very ordinary, especially considering its 140-minute running length and the movie coming from the director of the hyper zombie epic “Versus”. It can be said that “Azumi” shows the more traditional side of Kitamura, with the film taking place in 17th century feudal Japan, a nation torn by civil strife [...]
November 30th, 2004 | Nix | 1 Comment | Read MoreSayonara Jupiter aka Bye-Bye Jupiter (1983) Movie Review
When it was announced in the early 1980s that American audiences were returning to Jupiter via “2010″, the Peter Hyams sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking “2001″, Toho decided to give Japanese audiences a trip of their own, and do it before “2010″. The result was “Sayonara Jupiter” (aka “Bye-Bye Jupiter”), a big budget effort whose [...]
November 20th, 2004 | Joseph Savitski | 0 Comments | Read MoreMy Lover is a Sniper (2004) Movie Review
“My Lover is a Sniper” is the third part in a series that started with two TV movies that proved popular enough to warrant a feature on the big screen. The movie stars Miki Mizuno (”Bayside Shakedown 2″) as Kinako, a police Detective who, in the first and second installments, investigated a string of sniper [...]
November 19th, 2004 | Nix | 0 Comments | Read MoreDestroy All Monsters (1968) Movie Review
Godzilla’s popularity was on the wane in the late 60s, both in Japan and abroad. As a result, Toho management decreed that “Destroy All Monsters” would be Godzilla’s swan song, and ordered a film that would send the big guy out in style. Little did they know that the film would not only give the [...]
November 17th, 2004 | Joseph Savitski | 0 Comments | Read MoreGiant Monster Gamera (1965) Movie Revie
Toho’s Godzilla series was so successful that Daiei Studios decided they wanted a monster of their own. Probably realizing they couldn’t compete at the adult level with the Big G, Toho aimed somewhat lower, by focusing on the children’s market. The result is a substandard kaiju flick, the potential of which wouldn’t be fully realized [...]
November 14th, 2004 | Joseph Savitski | 0 Comments | Read MoreCutie Honey (2004) Movie Review
I suppose it goes without saying that you can’t take a movie called “Cutie Honey” too seriously. And even if you were to mistakenly believe this was a serious superhero movie, one glimpse of the heroine sporting form-fitting pink foam rubber that conveniently leaves a large gap to display her generous cleavage, should dispel that [...]
November 8th, 2004 | Nix | 0 Comments | Read MoreZatoichi: The Life and Opinion of Masseur Ichi (1962) Movie Review
The itinerant blind swordsman/masseur/compulsive gambler Zatoichi is something of a cinematic institution in Japan. The meek, blind masseuse defending the helpless from evil (using a samurai sword hidden in his walking stick with preternatural skill) and putting the smack down at the local gambling hall (using his acute hearing to “see” the dice) became [...]
November 6th, 2004 | Gopal | 0 Comments | Read MoreThree: Extremes (2004) Movie Review
The release of the Asian horror anthology “Three…Extremes” on DVD comes as a bit of a dilemma to international moviegoers who had already seen one of the three stories, Fruit Chan’s “Dumplings”, when it was released earlier in full-length version. As with the original “Three” two years ago, the sequel consists of three horror tales [...]
November 1st, 2004 | Nix | 0 Comments | Read More
nothing they payed fox.... 
OMG!!!! 
